This year, Brooklyn has been declared “the most unaffordable housing market in America.” Statistics declare that a Brooklyn household that brings in an income of $833 a week (Brooklyn’s reported median household income according to the New York Daily News) would have to spend 98% of that income to be able to live in a median priced house in Brooklyn.

Lazy. Uneducated. Unemployed. Substance abuser. Mentally ill. Unloved. I am none of these, but I am a HOMELESS NEW YORKER. I don’t make the aforementioned statement for the purpose of classifying homeless people into different categories. I make the aforementioned statement to refute the various stereotypes that plague all homeless people, and to share my direct experience.

All homeless people share the burden of living everyday life without the basic necessity of a home. Homeless New Yorkers who seek shelter via New York City’s shelter system have the shared experience of going through the shelter system of a city so unforgiving that it has become famously associated with the tagline: “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.”

I created www.HomelessNewYorker.com to document and share my experiences as a lifetime resident of New York who is now homeless and in the New York City shelter system. Through this site, I will chronicle my journey regarding: The shelter system’s conditions and protocols, the dizzying red tape barriers we face, the expected and unexpected life changes that are the result of homelessness, and many other related topics.

The current record breaking numbers of homelessness in one of the world’s most unaffordable cities must be discussed and eradicated. Share my journey!